Johnny Cash's house burns down

[froggie]

http://www.jacksonville.com/apnews/stories...D8OE1EBO0.shtml

 

 

Fire destroys Johnny Cash's longtime lakeside Tennessee home

 

 

By KRISTIN M. HALL

Associated Press Writer

 

HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. - Johnny Cash's longtime lakeside home, a showcase where he wrote much of his famous music and entertained U.S. presidents, music royalty and visiting fans, was destroyed by fire on Tuesday.

 

 

 

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Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, lived in the 13,880-square-foot home from the late 1960s until their deaths in 2003.

 

"So many prominent things and prominent people in American history took place in that house - everyone from Billy Graham to Bob Dylan went into that house," said singer Marty Stuart, who lives next door and was married to Cash's daughter, Cindy, in the 1980s.

 

Stuart said the man who designed the house, Nashville builder Braxton Dixon, was "the closest thing this part of the country had to Frank Lloyd Wright."

 

When Cash moved there, the road was a quiet country lane that skirts Old Hickory Lake. Kris Kristofferson, then an aspiring songwriter, once landed a helicopter on Cash's lawn to pitch him a song. Singer Roy Orbison was his next-door neighbor for a while.

 

Parts of the landmark video for Cash's song "Hurt" were shot inside the house.

 

"It was a sanctuary and a fortress for him," Stuart said. "There was a lot of writing that took place there."

 

Richard Sterban of the Oak Ridge Boys lives on the same road as Cash. "Maybe it's the good Lord's way to make sure that it was only Johnny's house," Sterban said.

 

The property was purchased in January 2006 for a reported $2.3 million by Gibb, a former member of the Bee Gees. Gibb and his wife, Linda, had said they planned to restore the home on Old Hickory Lake and hoped to write songs there.

 

Gibb's spokesman, Paul Bloch, said the singer and his family are "both saddened and devastated by the news."

 

The fire, in this suburb about 20 miles northeast of downtown Nashville, started around 1:40 p.m. Fire trucks arrived within five minutes, but the house was already engulfed in flames, Hendersonville Fire Chief Jamie Steele said.

 

Just a few hours later, there was almost nothing left except stone chimneys.

 

The cause is unknown, but Steele said the flames spread quickly because construction workers had recently applied a flammable wood preservative to the exterior of the house. The preservative was also being applied inside the house.

 

No workers were injured, but one firefighter was slightly hurt while fighting the fire, Steele said.

 

Dixon built the three-story house in 1967 for his own family, but Cash fell in love with it and persuaded him to sell it.

 

"It was a very, very unusual contemporary structure," said Cash's brother, Tommy Cash. "It was built with stone and wood and all kinds of unusual materials, from marble to old barn wood. I don't think there was a major blueprint. I think the builder was building it the way he wanted it to look."

 

The younger Cash said many holidays and family get-togethers were spent at the house. And while Johnny and June also owned a house in Jamaica and a second house in Tennessee, they considered this one to be their home.

 

Cash's long career, which began in the 1950s, spanned rock 'n' roll, folk and country. His hits included "Ring of Fire," "Folsom Prison Blues" and "I Walk the Line."

[owl]

Damn, that is terrible.

[isadorah]

so so sad. i live in nashville and was flipping through the radio stations on the way home from work when one of them interupted everything to say that the house had just caught fire and no one was sure just how bad the damage was. guess i should watch the local news tonight, i'm sure they'll cover it. very tragic.

 

then again, maybe it was fate that it was truly meant to be johnny cash's house and no other.

[Sir Stewart]

Man, Johnny made that place sound beautiful in his book. Sad.

[embiggen]

my mom and I were just talking about this house last night because I bought her a Bee Gees CD for her birthday and she commented on how Barry Gibb bought Johnny Cash's home. this is terribly sad

[OOO]

I guess the house fell into a ring of fire...

[awatt]

Nothing lasts....too bad though.

[nettles]

This gave me the willies waking up to this story this morning, I

[yermom]

The cause is unknown...

With Gibb as the owner, it was probably disco inferno that did the place in.

All kidding aside, this is pretty sad but what was said about it being "the good lord's way" of ensuring the house was only ever Johnny's is a nice thought.

[suites]

so so sad. i live in nashville and was flipping through the radio stations on the way home from work when one of them interupted everything to say that the house had just caught fire and no one was sure just how bad the damage was. guess i should watch the local news tonight, i'm sure they'll cover it. very tragic.

 

then again, maybe it was fate that it was truly meant to be johnny cash's house and no other.

 

 

Nice Avitar

[rareair]

i know nothing about construction but it seemed kind of odd that "construction workers had recently applied a flammable wood preservative to the exterior of the house. The preservative was also being applied inside the house."

 

 

flammable wood preservative?

[caliber66]

Wood sealant is very flammable, especially when it's still wet. It's full of volatile solvents.

[JUDE]

With Gibb as the owner, it was probably disco inferno that did the place in.

 

 

 

Wood sealant is very flammable, especially when it's still wet. It's full of volatile solvents.

 

Thnaks for the heads up Bob Villa.

[caliber66]

[quote name='JUDE

[JUDE]

No problem. I have some experience applying wood preservative (mostly in the form of paint) to the interior and exterior of houses.

 

Cool, I have a high spot in my kitchen floor where the addition was put on my house that I'd like to address in the near future, any recommendations? Maybe some jacking or maybe a self leveler?

[caliber66]

[quote name='JUDE

[Sir Stewart]

The ring of fire and disco inferno comments made me lolcano.